The Voyage
by TheHappyTreeFrog
Summary: (Almost Human Au) John is the Captain of 'The Voyage', and a mysterious man is found floating in a life-boat in the middle of the ocean, almost dead. They take him aboard the Voyage. Taking place in the late 1700's, Dorian is human, and he is good at everything imaginable. ;) -SMUT IN LATER CHAPTERS-
1. Chapter 1 - The Voyage

Today starts like any other day, waking before all my crew does, I check the boat, my crew wakes, I steer the boat whilst they work before me. They work the enormous boat, making sure it will function properly for the use of the day, and the next day, and the next.

I breathe in the humid salty air, the planks beneath me creaking with the weight of the ships movements, and the water hitting at a constant speed. And then sometimes not so constant. The sky is a dark blue, the sun hasnt come up yet, but it is light enough for me to see the white of the sea foam, and the deep blue of the waves. Occasionally I steer the boat slightly, and then my mind starts to drift. This is the only real time I have to myself, when everyone is working on their own separate jobs.

I have been sailing the seas for 27 years, and hell yes, that makes me feel old. Many things have changed since I was 13. I was only 13 when I joined the crew. My father owned the ship, and i lived with my mother in a beach house by the shore, to be close to where the ships always came into. But when my mother died of sickness, I had to stay with my father and work with him on the ship. About 5 years ago, he passed away. And ever since then I have been the captain. I know all my crew by heart, and were all very close. The youngest crew-man is 16 years old. The eldest is 63.

This ships job, and all our jobs on this ship, is to explore new places. I feel at peace when at sea, and that is why I love my job. Yes, the sea can be a dangerous place, and I have lost crew-men to her, but I still respect it. It's my home after all.

I don't remember how it was to live on ground, it has been so long. It saddening that I don't remember much from when I lived with my mother. She died when I was so young. I try to remember her, and everything around her, constantly. I lost the only picture I had of her, long ago. But I try to remember that as well, especially when I'm distressed.

I wipe the sea-mist off my face and breathe out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I have a way of stressing myself out. I try to think of something else, and just when I concentrate on the sea, I see something in the morning light. There is a small life-boat. I yell at anyone nearby, telling them to fetch that life boat. I bring out my telescope to get a closer look, and there is a man inside the life boat. He looks dead, and if he isn't, he looks close to death. I yell to the crew-men "There's a man in that boat!"

A few stressful minutes go by, and I run down the stairs from the steering deck, to the main deck to find 2 crew-men hanging over the man's body. One is holding the man's head and one is trying to revive him. I grab Rudy by the arm and tell him-"Get him some food and water"

Rudy says "Yes sir." And runs off.

I look back to the dark man before me, lying lifelessly on the ground, and the man trying to revive him pushes one last time and the mysterious dark man flings his torso up just in time for him to throw up liquid from the depths of his belly. His coughing and choking stops and Rudy comes up behind me with food and water. I lean down next to this mysterious man and hold his head up. What I find so amazing is, he has dark skin, but vivid blue eyes, and I'm instantly entranced in them. I lose words for a few seconds, but I snap myself out of the trance and I give him the water he needs. His lips dry and peeling. His eyes look lifeless but vivid at the very same moments. Who is this man?

I pick him up and bring him to an unoccupied crew bedroom. Rudy following behind with this mans food and water. This mysterious man hasn't said one word since we saved him. The only noise he made was the coughing and choking. Can he speak? And that is the exact question I ask first. I set him on the bed, and let a minute go by.

He answers with "Yes." He has a hoarse, but smooth voice at the same time. This man is made of contradictions. He is an amazement.

He picks up the wooden cup of water and drinks it hungrily."What is your name?" I choose to say next.

He finishes drinking his water and says-"Dorian." He wipes his mouth.

"My name is John, and I am the Captain of this ship. What happened to you that you were in a life-boat?"

"The ship I was on got hit, and pirates took over, I escaped, but only barely."

Astounding. "How long ago was this?" I make sure to make my voice sound gruff and firm.

"About three days ago"

"Hm, okay well were going to keep you here in this room until we figure out what to do with you. Don't do anything stupid or we forcefully take you off this ship. Rudy here will take care of you, and your needs." I finish my sentence getting off the chair by the bed.

* * *

It has been a couple days since the 'life-boat happening'. I visited Dorian a couple of times, and I'm currently walking to the room he's in. I have had enough time to size him up. He doesn't seem to have any bad thinking/planning. He probably really did lose his ship to pirates, it happens so often. It happened to our ship, or at least they tried to take the ship, but we got rid of the pirates immediately. They weren't very skillful.

I walk in Dorian's room and he's sitting on his bed, conversing with Rudy, but they stopped when I walked in and Rudy gets up and lets me have a seat. Rudy is out the door by the time I can ask him anything.

I tell Dorian "So, I'm going to give you two choices. You can go home, if you have one, or you can stay on this ship and work under me. I have had enough time to think this over, and you seem to be a good person." I clear my throat and start to say-"I remember you stating you used to have a ship that you used to work on, so you probably don't have a job right now."

Dorian nods his head and says "I'll stay on this ship." He says firmly.

"Alright you start your job right after you learn it. Ill assign you to the kitchen, serving food. Valerie will teach you." I hold out my hand for him to grab, he takes it and stands up straight. I nod curtly and walk out the door, fully expecting him to follow. We walk down the stairs and I tell him "Oh and you will be sleeping in the crews quarters from now on." when we finally get to the kitchen, I call out "Valerie, Dorian will be working with you from now on. Teach him, and tell him what to do. And after both of your shifts, show him to the crew's quarters."

"Alright, come on over Dorian. So you will be worki-"

I walk out and back to my station. The only thing on my mind is the mysterious dark skinned man with the vivid blue eyes.


	2. Chapter 2 - Welcoming Party

I go down to the kitchen to check up on Dorian occasionally, and he is the best cook we have had on this ship. Our crew loves him. He works the bar and the kitchen. I'm sitting on one of the booths in the kitchen area, watching him from a distance. I rub where my leg used to be. I sigh and try not to think about the incident.

Maldonado is steering the boat, so this is my break. I drink my soup quickly and re-attach the wooden leg to where my leg should be, and walk up to where Dorian is.

"How do you like it here? On our boat?"

He looks up at me sadly and says-"It's good. I just- I just miss my crew. It's unfortunate they had to die that way."

I feel sympathetic. I know how it feels to lose almost all your crew. You're friends with all of them, and then they all die. It's too much to handle at one time, and you go into shock. But it weighs on your mind like a ton of bricks, until you finally break. I want to be there for him when it happens.

I look at him worriedly, and then look down-"It happens to most of us. It happened to me multiple times. It will get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. You will befriend some on this ship, and the thought of your old crew will hopefully be happier memories. Like it was with me. I love this crew, they are my family."

He looks down too, and I feel like something should be said, should be done. But nothing happens and a thick moment passes until Valerie comes up to Dorian with more work to do. I walk to the steering deck again, to continue the day's work.

* * *

Our orders were to go to Europe and make a deal with the other group of sailors. We have to go across a pirate-ridden part of the sea to get there, and it will be highly dangerous. We're sailing in that direction right now, and worry settles itself in my stomach, worrying about my crew, hoping we will be safe.

It's getting dark outside, making the sea water look black. The dark sea water makes it look much scarier than it is. An abyss of water that goes so fucking far down, our ship could get lost beneath its pull.

My mind falls back onto Dorian. We're throwing a party for him tonight, and everyone is extremely excited. They all love him, I think Rudy loves him more then everyone put together. There isn't a moment that passes by when they aren't together (When they aren't working, they are together). Rudy is the one that assembled the party arrangements, I walk down to the main deck, and then down more stairs to the kitchen. Valerie's back is to me, she's making stew. She is the second cook we have on this ship. I lean my arms onto the booths table and ask her "What do you think of Dorian?"

She stops stirring the stew, but still looking at it. She's thinking. "He's a great man, but he lost his crew recently. He has a lot on his plate. He's stressed, and broken." She starts stirring the soup again.

"No. He's in the process of being broken."

At that, she turned around to face me. Her face made of complete seriousness and confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I have gone through what he's going through. He's not broken yet. The loss of a crew weighs on you, and it's a shock to lose people you know and love." I look down and continue with "Once the shock has worn off, he will break."

She says what I wanted to-"we are there for him. You know that."

I look up, and I feel like she read my mind. I nod. I don't say what I'm thinking. 'No one was there for me when I broke.' 'No one helped me through it.' 'No one even knew.' I wear a mask, a fake smile, and before I leave I say "Thanks Valerie. The party is starting soon, so hurry up." I say in faux annoyance with authority.

She laughs and says "Aye Captain."

* * *

Dorian comes in, and some crew members walk towards him, hugging him, and shaking his hand. When the time comes, I shake his hand. "You are officially part of The Voyage. Eat and Drink to your heart's content, you aren't working tonight."

Valerie calls out with-"Hey! Does that mean I have to do all the work?"

All the crew in the kitchen laughs, and I answer with-"You bet your ass."

Dorian starts laughing at that, along with everyone else. Seeing him laugh for the first time is beautiful. The melodically deep sound he made when he laughed was entrancing. Time seemed to slow, and I felt like him and I were the only people in the world. I only saw him, and nothing else. I would have sworn I wasn't gay. What the fuck is going on. Maybe I drank too much.

I lick my lips trying to think of something else, but Dorian looked at me, and walked to the bar. I follow him, and he orders a beer. I take one as well.

"So, what did you do on the other ship?"

"The most dangerous job there is. Setting sails, and fixing/repairing them. I also looked out for other ships…"

Shit. I'm sorry. I made him feel like it was his fault the ship got pirates. I try to change the subject, to get his mind off things.

"So, what do you like to do? This boat is pretty extravagant. We have a room for special activities, we play poker and checkers there.***** I can show you around tomorrow?"

"Alright, that sounds good." His smile is heaven. I would do almost anything to see it again.

I smile, because I couldn't help myself. I drink my beer quickly and as does he.

A couple hours go by, and I feel like I spun in circles for 3 hours straight. All I know is that Dorian is the huggy drunk. He isn't very talkative, just very nice. And it pisses me off when he goes to other crew members and gets all over them. I hear some crew members singing in the background, but its all faded out compared to Dorian at this moment. I feel angry that he's on other people.

I march over to him drunkenly and take him by the arm. I mumble 'mine' but I don't think he hears me. We are both so fucking drunk. I pull him to a table and we sit down, and the moment I sit down I feel so extremely dizzy, I blacked out, and I'm not sure for how long I was blacked out, but when I woke, it was morning. I was still in the kitchen, Dorian and Valerie working their asses off.

Dorian was working slower than usual, I can understand why. Last night was a hell of a night. We both drank way too much. I get up, and my only destination in my mind is my bedroom. I crave a nap right now. On the way to my room, I find Richard (I dread seeing him at all) I inwardly sigh and tell him to wake me in 2 hours.

I start blushing to myself; I was being really fucking possessive last night. I'm never like that to anyone. Right? And I'm not gay. Right? I rub my head, because the headache is coming in hard, so I will myself to sleep.

* * *

***Side Note: Poker wasn't invented until 1829, but I wanted some sort of activity. Checkers was popular in the 1700's though.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Almost There

We set sail for China from Australia almost two weeks ago. I keep a journal of the places we set towards (Like any other captain of a ship does), and the dates so I don't lose time. It's so easy to lose time when you're sailing. The days mold together, each day feeling the same as the day before. We all have the same mindset pretty much. We have the same work to do, all day, every day.

June 2nd, 1732- We are getting closer to the Chinese border. The exact whereabouts are unknown; we keep following where the compass leads us. No real threat has shown itself to this point.

June 5th, 1732- We are on the border of the Chinese seas. We have passed a couple ships; each one we passed was a Chinese ship.

June 7th, 1732- We have passed 6 ships. No threat has been seen thus far. The sea is peaceful, along with the crew on this sh-.

That was the exact moment the first canon ball blew into the side of our ship, on the lower bit of our ship. No time to think. My journal left forgotten. Bright blue water started gushing through the halls of the ship up towards this floor of the ship. I can hear the screams of the terrified souls being taken by the deep unknown. When the water continues at a pace, adrenaline speeds through my body, I thrash through the water at my feet, speeding towards the door leading to the main deck. Everyone is screaming. By now the cargo room is at full capacity with the waters running through. I keep telling myself to not panic. But even so, I'm shaking from the shock of everything happening; I can't catch my breath. I'm losing oxygen and I can't think fast enough to help anyone. Everything goes fuzzy and quiet until everything blurs out to darkness **-**

I jump out of my sheets almost literally. I'm wheezing and gasping for air before i could even understand what was going wrong; my voice not able to make a sound but my mouth gaping, trying to breath. I grab at the sheets, tugging them, making sure that yes, this is reality. My dream was in the past; a memory. My head turns to my sides rapidly, and I think-'it was just a dream.' 'Stop this' 'john, stop it.' I release shaky breaths, and I finally look outside my cabins window. Feeling the waves hit the boat, watching the white puffs outside my window, listening to the constant beating of the waves, making the boat flow in a motion that made me feel like sleeping once more. And I could hear the crew talking distantly. I go into a type of trance, and close my eyes. I look out the window once more and see two birds flying. That's odd. We shouldn't be close to civilization for another day. I attach my wooden leg quickly. 'Where are we exactly?' I think to myself. I sigh a sigh of exhaustion. My sleep was ridden of night terrors; I have reason for being exhausted.

* * *

We are approximately 10 miles away from civilization. I misjudged how close we were, thinking we would be back tomorrow. But this also means that we are now in the pirate's waters, and have been since last night. Everyone on this ship is nervous; But not as nervous as I have to be. I have to worry about other peoples lives, along with mine. I look around myself, searching the sea for anything approaching. Nothing is in my line of sight for now, and I sigh of relief. I tell a crew-man to man the wheel. I check on a few of my crew members, making sure everything is going as planned.

It's about lunchtime and I need to have a meal. I skipped breakfast, and went straight to my duties. My hunger finally got the best of me. I call out to Dorian and ask for soup. It takes him a couple minutes to make, and I relish in the taste and heat of it once I have it. I look up at Dorian, about to say something, and I hear yells about my head. I look up, and my heart sinks when the yells don't stop. This is all familiar, but all so different. I rush to get up the stairs and out the door. Everything feeling as though it's in slow motion. Everyone is rushing about yelling incoherently. I stop a crew member to understand what exactly is happening. "There's a pirate ship in the distance Cap'n!" He sounds like he's yelling through a pillow, hard to understand but I can understand him barely.

I look out nervously to everyone and back to the man "We'd better get ready." I feign a cool and collected tone, but inside it was the exact opposite. I push him off.

When the Pirate ship is close enough, I take out my telescope; I can see many faces, but not the captains. I look and see the name of the boat. 'Insyndicate'. I take my telescope down and take a step back. No. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Its them, and they are approaching us. My mouth left hanging open, afraid of what is to come. They are skilled and ready to kill whoever gets in their path. I run as fast as I can to the cargo, and yell at everyone inside "Ready the cannons! Shoot at that ship, don't let them get close!"

"But Cap-"

"Do as I say!"

I run back to my station, breathing heavily. I am terrified for everyone's lives on this ship. Last time I saw 'Insyndicate' I lost my leg and almost lost my life. I barely escaped with 5 out of 112 other crew members. The other 107 were either killed or taken as slaves. My mind trails to this morning, to my dream of that day.

I try hard to calm my breathing, but that is more a difficult task when you are panicking. I bring my hand to my hair and rub my head, racking my brain for any other ideas. And then I think; if they come on this ship, we are going to give them a hell of a fight.

Notes: eheheh, I'm a devil for ending it there, but this chapter took me forever to write(not too sure why) lol anyways, hope you like it. I sort of like how it ended...? ANYWAAAAYYYYSSS Tell me what you though about my story so far! ;D It fuels me to write more!


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